Springfield Men's Volleyball Earns Second Seed in Upcoming NCAA Championship

Springfield, Mass. - The Springfield College men's volleyball team was awarded the second seed in the NCAA Division III Men's Volleyball Championship, which will take place April 22-24 at Nazareth's College Shults Center in Rochester, N.Y.. The Pride will square off against the winner of the play-in game between Endicott and Kean.

The Pride, which was ranked second in the country in the latest AVCA Division III National Coaches
Poll, earned one of four at-large berths into the field of 10 teams. Springfield enters the championship weekend with a 26-3 record, including a 22-2 record against Division III opponents.

Springfield will square off in the national quarterfinals on Friday, April 22 against the winner of 10th-seeded Endicott (17-10) and 7th-seeded Kean (30-6) at 5:30 pm. The play-in game between those two teams will be played on April 16 at Kean.

On the same side of the bracket as Springfield, 3rd-seeded Carthage (27-1) will battle 6th-seeded Stevenson (25-7) on Friday at 8:00 pm.  In the top half of the bracket, top-seeded New Paltz (30-2) will play the winner of Wentworth (22-8) and Hunter (24-9) at 12:30 pm, while 4th-seeded Rutgers (24-3) will play 5th-seeded Stevens (26-6) at 3:00 pm. The championship continues with two semifinal matches on Saturday, April 23 and the championship match on Sunday, April 24.

The Pride faced Endicott twice this season, winning both matches by 3-0 decisions.  Springfield and Kean did not play this year, and the Cougars won the last meeting between the two schools in straight sets in 2015.

Springfield has played in the last six Division III national championship matches and won three-straight NCAA Division III National Championships after sweeping Carthage in 2012, Nazareth in 2013, and Juniata in 2014. As a program, the Pride has won a total of nine Division III National Championships, including five in the past eight seasons.